Splinter Church Fights for Property

A dispute between a small renegade church and its former denomination may not rival the Battle of Jericho as one of history’s great dispossessions.

But three years after the congregation broke from the international Church of the Nazarene over doctrinal differences, battle lines have been drawn over who owns the church property.

The pastor of Berean Christian Center, formerly the Azusa Church of the Nazarene, paints the dispute in biblical terms.

“It’s kind of a David and Goliath thing,” said the Rev. Stephen K. Gustin. “They’re trying to usurp the property of people who poured their blood, sweat and tears into that church.”

But Nazarene officials say it is a simple ownership dispute, and that they want to use the building to reestablish a congregation in Azusa.

“They have the right to withdraw from the church, but they cannot take the church property with them,” said Paul Benefiel, superintendent of the Los Angeles District Church of the Nazarene.

The title to the 37-year-old building is in the district’s name, but Gustin retains the keys and has posted “No Trespassing” signs. During March, the locks were changed twice, once by Benefiel and again by Gustin. Similar wrangling has taken place over the termination and resumption of utility service.

The church, which was built and paid for by the congregation, is vacant, and the Berean Christian Center holds services at a nearby school.

Neither the Bereans nor the Nazarenes, who cite biblical admonitions against secular solutions to disputes among Christians, are planning legal action.

“If there’s going to be any suing, it would have to be done by the other party,” Gustin said. He cited I Corinthians 6:1, which reads in part: “Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints.”

Moreover, the congregation lacks the $25,000 needed to mount a legal defense, he said.

Similarly, Benefiel said the district has no plans to go to court.

Gustin said district officials have told him that they will sell the church and keep the proceeds. But Benefiel said the building is not for sale.

To settle the matter, Gustin has proposed selling the church, which he says is too small for his growing congregation, and dividing the proceeds between his group and the church hierarchy. But Benefiel said it would not be in the Nazarene church’s best interest to sell the property and split the proceeds with the Berean Christian Center.

The 4,900-square-foot property at the intersection of Angeleno Avenue and 5th Street, which includes an auditorium and a schoolhouse, has been appraised at $450,000, Gustin said.

Members of Gustin’s congregation broke from the church in 1985 after the Nazarenes disavowed “speaking in tongues”--the utterance of unintelligible sounds viewed by some as a manifestation of deep religious experience--and other Pentecostal practices and beliefs. Pentecostal or charismatic denominations believe in physical manifestations of the Holy Spirit, such as speaking in tongues, healing and prophecy.

The Nazarene church, which first organized as the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene in 1909, dropped Pentecostal beliefs in 1919 and made the stand official at the 1985 meeting, Benefiel said.

Voted to Break

After that meeting, the 178-member Azusa congregation, one-fourth of which claims to have had charismatic experiences, voted unanimously to break from the denomination, Gustin said.

“Some people don’t believe in the gift of healing, prophecy and miracles,” Gustin said. “The Church of the Nazarene believes that these things happened (only) in ancient times, and they put that in their by-laws.”

In December, 1985, the district board “disorganized” the Azusa congregation as dictated by church law, and Benefiel transferred the title to the property from the local church to the board.

Gustin said the district board may be trying to punish the congregation for its beliefs by attempting to take back the church. He said the transfer of the title to the district board was unlawful and unethical because neither he nor any other congregation officer signed it.

“Ethically, there’s a question there,” he said. “We’re talking about Christians now.”

Calls Transfer Legal

But Benefiel said the transfer was legal under church law because he became the Azusa congregation’s president when the church withdrew from the denomination.

“The bylaws are very clear that when a disorganization takes place, the officers of the corporation become the superintendent and secretary of the district board,” he said. “That’s the reason we had the deed recorded.”

After the district board had the deed transfered in December, 1985, the congregation leased the building until January.

“Gustin came to us and wanted to lease the buildings,” Benefiel said. “When you lease something, you recognize that you’re leasing it from the owner.”

Original Title

Gustin said he assumed after the break that the district owned the church and did not discover until late last year that the Azusa church originally had title. Had he known earlier, Gustin said, he would not have agreed to pay rent.

When the lease ran out in January, the congregation moved its services to the nearby school.

Benefiel said the denomination, which has named a new pastor for Azusa, wants to begin holding services in the disputed building.

“We own the property, and we intend to take care of the property,” he said.

Benefiel said he does not understand why Gustin says the church plans to sell the property.

‘Beyond Us’

“At this point, our intention is to hold services there,” he said. “But who knows what is going to happen? I don’t know what we’ll do.

“It’s beyond us how they are claiming ownership,” Benefiel said. “We have to assume that as a man of the cloth he will turn the property over to the church.”

Gustin said his compromise attempts have been rebuffed by Nazarene officials. “We are wanting to work with them, but they’ve demonstrated that they are ready to play hardball,” he said.

Rather than going through legal channels, Gustin said, he has appealed to the church hierarchy in Kansas City, Mo. But thus far, he said, higher Nazarene officials have not indicated a willingness to intervene. Nazarene officials in Kansas City did not return several phone calls from The Times.

“It’s not a matter of who loses,” Gustin said. “No one is going to win in this situation.”